Candour
by Skye-Excalibur
Summary: One Shot. Jack and Cater :3


This fanfiction is written for LittleLarciel.

I don't own characters from Final Fantasy Type-0.

* * *

His sole grinded the dirt, joints locking his stance in position. He felt the energy rushed through his biceps; muscles tightening as he unleashed a radius of power with an uppercut of his blade - slicing anything in his path.

Then, a small applause was heard from behind. Like a performer, he turned around and gave his audience a small bow of courteously.

"That was really wonderful, Jack-san!" the brunette commented.

"Heh! That was nothing, Deuce!" the boy replied as he sheathed his blade.

"And this is the technique you had been practicing all this while?"

"Yup! I finally mastered it as well -"

A grunt was heard from the girl standing next to the brunette. Her arms were crossed and foot was tapping impatiently. Her visage was far worse as her brows were knitted tightly, shooting a dark glare at the boy.

"Are you done showing off, Jack? Look, we're in a hurry and we don't have time to be commenting how you swing that stick of yours." Cater then turn to the brunette beside her. "Deuce, seriously. We gotta go."

The flutist gave a nod then shifted her attention back to the blonde. "I'm so sorry, Jack-san. We're supposed to meet up with Emina-sensei in ten more minutes and we- whoaaa!" abruptly stopping, the flutist was dragged away from the boy.

"See ya, Jack!" Cater waved, not bothering to look behind at all.

The duo left the arena swiftly, leaving the blonde waving to no one. "...S-See ya..."

Her reaction was probably what tugged the corner of his lips into a frown. Especially to someone who showed no botheration to almost anything that does not catch her eye. Though he should have known that disappointment was somewhat inevitable, still he hoped for another possibility.

"Gee... are you really that hard to impress?" the blonde lamented and ran his fingers through his hair.

Something was eating him inside, and it ate him terribly. Wearily shifting his gaze from the direction where the duo left, he let them fall to his katana carefully sheathed hanging on his waist belt. He patted it, then a small smile forming on his lips.

...

"Are you sure you have everything completed?" The masked man queried and dull eyes staring at the stack of project papers pushed forward to him.

"Y-Yes! It's everything! I- I even made a checklist on what I'm missin' and all... and... I- I'm pretty sure I have all of'em here!" stammering with intimidation, Jack fidgeted in his spot.

Kurasame let a gloved finger run down the paper stack, then flipping a few of the pages on the top. Certainly, he was not impressed. "This is your last chance I'm letting you hand in your assignments at such an extended time. If you hand in any of your assignments late again, they will be fed to the flames, is that clear enough, number 11?"

The blonde nodded meekly back at his commander. "Y-Yes!"

Behind him entered a man through the door. "Sir!" the armored man saluted. "The airship is ready to leave in 20 minutes."

Exchanging looks with the soldier, Kurasame nodded back to him. "Jack, if there is nothing else, I shall be taking my leave now."

"R-Right!" he took a few steps back from his desk, almost bumping into the soldier standing behind him, in return a snort of disgust from the older man.

"I will be heading to the Kingdom of Concordia, so I won't be in the perimeters of Suzaku for three days. I have informed Queen about replacement classes and she will notify all of you about it." The masked man told as he let his Tonberry climb onto his shoulder.

"Oh... um." the blonde was uncertain of what to say. Initially, he wanted to crack a joke to his commander: around the lines of 'don't forget our souvenirs!' and so, but he decided against it. "H-Have a safe trip!" he choked with a forceful grin.

Silently, the man held his stare in place, plunging him into further intimidation. Then the contact of their eyes broke away and Kurasame left his office.

...

Dragging himself along the corridor, the growling of his stomach let his mind wandered to food, food and more food. When was the last time he had a good meal of roasted chicken steak covered with black pepper gravy? The thought of him made him drool, blankly sniffing the air as if his plate of imaginary food was before him. With his eyes shut, he had no idea what was coming his way from the corner.

BAM!

"Owowowowwwww!" Jack staggered as the huge force pushed him to the side.

Likewise, another cry was heard from the other side. "HEY! Are you blind? Watch where you're going!" the stranger snarled in anger, rubbing her forehead as she tried to regain her balance after their collision.

A slight sharp pain stung his shoulder, then he realised she was running pretty fast – causing such an impact. Then he paused, his eyes skimmed the petite figure before him. "C-Cater?"

"Huh?" the girl shot her head up; her eyes locking to the blonde's. "It was you, Jack! Damnit, do you need glasses? Ugh, I think I have a bruise on my head or something!" she spat with her fingers pressing her forehead.

"I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let you ram into me!"

The gunner winced. "What are you talking about? If you purposely stood there just for me to ram into you, I would've blasted you meters away with my gun, blockhead!" She hissed, still rubbing her bruise.

"Are you all right? Your head must've slammed into my steel woggle." Jack told, tugging the woggle that kept his cape in place.

"Ugh. I don't have time to start a squabble with you, I need to go."

The blonde perked a curious brow. "You in a hurry? Where are ya goin'?"

"I forgot my exercise sheet that was to be handed to Kurasame today! He's gonna gimme a big fat 'L' for late on my paper and I don't want that!"

"Ummm…. Commander left Suzaku to Concordia…" he said with a finger held up in the air.

"Kurasame- WHAT?"

"He's not comin' back in three days."

The girl started to panic. "Oh... no. NO- NOOO! Has he been gone LONG?"

"... 'bout ten minutes I would say... I just left his office a while ago..."

"Oh... I'm doomed... He's going to paste that fat 'L' on my paper... "Cater sniffled, subconsciously wrinkling the sides of her paper.

Jack mused for a moment. His darted his eyes from the sadden girl to her crumpling paper. "Cater, gimme your paper."

"W-What?"

"Give me your god damn paper." he reiterated with a harder tone.

"What do you want with-"

Jack snatched the sheet from the gunner's hands and sprinted off in another direction.

"J-Jack! Where are you going with my paper?"

He ran as fast as he could, cutting through corners and skidding along the corridors. Vaulting over a ledge, he rolled to the side - regaining his balance quickly before dashing off again. Arena practices certainly do pay off. From afar, he spotted his commander making his way to the Chocobo Carriage that rides him to the airship dock.

_Fudge._

"SENSEI- SENSEI-!" he cried out, waving a arm at him as he ran.

Kurasame heard a familiar voice approaching him, halting his pace. Tilting his head slightly, he saw the katana-wielder advancing towards him. The Tonberry perched on his shoulder as if getting ready to launch an attack if his master was assaulted. Thankfully, the boy stopped before his commander, a near inch and he'd knock him over.

Jack waved the paper in the air, panting terribly as he tried to mouth his words.

"…Is there something urgent that made you ran all the way here, Jack?"

"T-T-The-"he gasped for air and wiped away the sweat trailing down his cheek. "The worksheet!"

Kurasame perked a brow, crossing his arms looking unimpressed. "Pardon?"

"C-Cater's worksheet!" he panted heavily with his body still bending over; palms on his knees. "S-She forgot to hand it to you after class!"

"Jack. I'm not taking any class work to Concordia… I left all of your worksheets and assignments on my table. You can just leave it there."

The samurai gaped. "WHAT." His legs quivered in shock.

All that dramatic sprinting-

"If there is nothing else I have to take my leave now. See you in three days, Jack." The masked man turned away and left.

All the energy was drained from the running; he didn't have any left to lift his arm up to wave goodbye to his commander. He dragged himself away from the field, even if his legs were trembling. Rubbing the back of his neck miserably with the other still holding onto the nasty worksheet, he could imagine a barking laughter from a certain gunner echoing in his ears already. The humiliation.

...

He found her waiting for him by the entrance of the office where he left from. Mustering his courage, he brought himself forward to the girl.

"Jack!" she called out to him.

"…Laugh all you want, apparently Kurasame isn't bringing any of his work along to Concordia." He explained as he held her paper up. "So… I'll just go put it on his desk…"

"Gee, thanks Jack… For running all the way to him just to hand in my lousy worksheet to him…" the girl replied somewhat meekly.

"Nah, no sweat. You looked like you were gonna cry gettin' that big fat 'L' on your paper. I couldn't just turn my back and walk away, could I?" Jack teased, giving her a friendly pat on the shoulder. He was expecting something different from the gunner – an insult maybe. Howbeit, the sheepish figure before him was not displaying any sign of sarcasm at all.

"I'm sorry, Jack… Putting you through all that blind trouble…"

"Hey! Like I've said, it's no sweat, Catey! 'sides, you can't run as fast as I can, bein' the gunner and all… Who knows who else you might ram into again!" the blonde barked a laugh – then trailing off when her expression did not change. "H- Hey… Don't feel so bad about it! It's really no big deal runnin' here and there… I run all the time in the arena!"

Cater kept silent for a moment; fidgeting in place. "Jack. Why are you doing this?"

"…Huh?"

"Tell me you'll run meters to help hand in a worthless piece of paper for everyone if they ask you to."

Jack flinched at her statement and brought up a hand to rub the back of his neck nervously. "W-Well… Guess I was in the mood to do a lil' runnin' today!"

The gunner didn't reply; adjusting the strap of her bag pack with her head still lowered.

The awkward silence fell between them.

Jack couldn't stand the silence that was eating them both. "C-C'mon! We gotta hand in your paper!" he choked. "Sorry it's wrinklin' a bit from all that runnin'… I could bring it back to my room since I have an iron there and maybe straighten it a lil'?"

"It's all right, Jack. I've put you into too much trouble," she spoke up and tried to tug her paper back from him.

"It's no trouble, number four!"

"Quit arguing with me and gimme my paper back!"

"You quit bein' so stubborn, it's not like I'm going to eat your paper or anythin'!"

"You're crumpling it more! GIVE IT BACK!"

The height difference was an advantage to the samurai. With a nasty smirk playing subtly on his lips, he raised his arm high – the paper was out of reach for the petite girl.

"NO FAIR!" she hopped with hands flailing trying to reach for her sheet. "JACK. GIVE IT BACK."

"Nopes! It's with me now." The boy sing-songed as he walked away.

"Jack I'm going to shoot you if you don't gimme my paper back!"

"No weapons within the school compound, Caterrrr~"

"SHUT UP, JACK."

The gunner followed closely behind the samurai, leaping up to him every minute or two trying to retrieve her paper back. Jack would push her down with his other free hand or simply skip a few steps forward so she would have to catch up to him.

As the boy playfully beamed at her, waving her paper like a victory flag, in return, a subconscious smile crept onto her lips.

* * *

**A/N:** My first JackXCater fic :3 I love these two~ I mean, they look so adorable together. Sorry. I don't ship 84 though. I just can't picture them together :/ Despite the ending of Eight crushing on Cater (itsonesidedIMHO) So. R&R :3


End file.
